Bill Ablitt

[finbar17]

Very sad to hear this news. R.I.P. Bill a great guy and always looled after me when I started travelling to away games. Do it for Bill this year lads . All barrow aren't we.

[walney rock]

R.i.p Bill, another bluebird flying high

[Steelworks End]

Sad to see a loyal Barrow supporter passing away. Condolences to his family & friends.

[Liz]

Yes that was him! Can I ask how you knew him? X

I was the Liaison Draughtsman working between Dock-side and Drawing offices. Meetings were arranged between heads of trade departments, ships manager and installation manager to rectify on site any clashes or anomalies picked up from drawings when actual installation occurred. The agreed paths taken were fed back to the respective office and the affected drawing modified. It was an innovative idea at the time, since Swann Hunter Newcastle and Lairds in Liverpool were the follow up producers of the Type 42 Destroyer. It was important that as far as possible the ships would be identical, easing further installation problems and making interchangeability of parts easier. Of course Bill was a key player in this process.

Regards.

Ah ok, he loved his job in the yard! X

[Liz]

Thank you for everyone's comments!

Hope he has a good turn out tomorrow morning at the crem!

Let's hope they have a good season & do it for my grandad!!!

[Liz]

Very sad to hear this news. R.I.P. Bill a great guy and always looled after me when I started travelling to away games. Do it for Bill this year lads . All barrow aren't we.

Can I ask who this is please?

[GTBLUE]

Thank you for everyone's comments!

Hope he has a good turn out tomorrow morning at the crem!

Let's hope they have a good season & do it for my grandad!!!

Hiya Liz,

You probably won't have a clue who I am. But myself and two mates went to the away games way back when your grandad ran the trips. He was a real stickler for rules and times etc. They were run like a military exercise. He was'nt too fond of drinking on the bus
But there was always a way, as there is now
My lasting memory of him will be, if we ever got near the ground too early, and the bar , the bus driver would drive round and round until about half two, so we could'nt have too many Colwyn Bay stands out in a mini bus. What a long day that was. Won 4_ 2 though and got a puncture on the way back just near Carnforth. The things you remember eh.
If it was"nt for him we would never have seen so many away games.

You and your family are in my thoughts. He will always be Barrow AFC.

[Liz]

No I don't have a clue sorry! There was many on them buses but you could let me know in a pm?

Oh wow yes he was and he did have very strict rules!! He was always one for rules! We loved doing them buses! Unfortunately he couldn't travel very well so had to stop in the end.

Lol, that day was very funny! He was always funny when something went wrong! Haha.

[Toffeebluebird]

Condolences to the family.

Was also a regular on the coach (with my parents) when Bill ran them, as GTBLUE said we wouldn't have seen so many away games if it wasn't for those well run away coaches.

[Liz]

Condolences to the family.

Was also a regular on the coach (with my parents) when Bill ran them, as GTBLUE said we wouldn't have seen so many away games if it wasn't for those well run away coaches.

Thank you.

They were brilliant the trips, all of us as a family enjoyed running the buses!

[Ralph]

SAD LOSS OF TWO STALWART SUPPORTERS
From the Barrow v Aldershot Town programme

The Bluebirds lost two fans who had each supported the club for 50 years following the deaths of Bill Ablitt and Reay Mackay during the summer.

Bill, who died at the age of 83, will be best known to fans for running coaches to away games, starting in Barrow Northern Premier League days. He ran the trips, with son Peter, with a rod of iron – no alcohol on the bus and when Bill gave a time for being back on the coach, you had to be back on time. Bill was born in Hadley in Essex and served in the Navy before he and his family moved to Barrow in 1963, when he got a job in the shipyard as an engineer. He became the guarantee manager in the DTO department, ensuring the work was done when repairs were needed. His wife, Joyce, got him interested in football after England’s World Cup victory and he started going to Barrow matches with his young sons Peter and Billy and the family were soon “bitten”. In the dark days when the club was being rescue by Brian Keen, the present honorary life-president often turned to Bill for some financial help to keep the club going and Bill, wife Joyce, son Peter and Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth were all made life patrons.

Reay Mackay, who died at the age of 87, was born is Scotland and was an electrician at Camel Laird in Liverpool before moving to Millom in 1953. His support for the Bluebirds started almost immediately, being a regular on the Saturday lunchtime train to Barrow. His loyalty to the club wasn’t matched by that he showed to his employers, once working out that he had had 68 different jobs. He rarely missed a game, but after 60 years his football allegiance switched to Workington Reds last season when his son John, at one time a leading light in the Bluebirds Development Fund, switched to supporting the Reds where he is now on the board of directors.